Mumbai: The number of children dropping out of cancer treatment at India's premier cancer-care centre, Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) in Parel, fell by 82% in the last five years. Only 4.4% of the children dropped out of treatment in 2015 as against 25% in 2010, said the hospital's doctors.

"Among every 100 children, 25 would drop out. Of these dropouts, 90% would not return right after the first visit,'' said Dr Sripad Banavali, head of medical oncology department of Tata Memorial Hospital, which functions under the department of atomic energy. The hospital treats 2,000 new paediatric cancer patients every year.

The hospital has been able to make this turnaround by first identifying factors that led to the dropouts and then eliminating them. Financial constraints, gender bias and belief in alternative treatments were among the reasons for dropping out.

To tackle financial constraints, the hospital, through central government funds and support from donors, made treatment completely free for patients under 10 years of age. "Yet we found that drop rates didn't stop,'' said the doctor.

The hospital then started offering nutritional support, including 10kg ration, for the child and parents.

"Illiteracy contributed immensely to the dropout rate. There is a lack of belief in the curability of cancer,'' said Shalini Jatia, a volunteer at TMH paediatric department. "We have followed a holistic method to reduce the dropout rates. Not only do we support them financially, we handhold the families at every step, be it for accommodation, education or medicines,'' said Jatia.

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